Published Books

As a veteran sportswriter, Furman Bisher has been Face to Face with the most influential sports figures the country has to offer. He pulls no punches and leaves no question un-asked in this collection of his all-time best interviews. From baseball to boxing and from Jack Nicklaus to Red Grange, Furman Bisher shares his biggest scoops and most heart-warming stories. Shoeless Joe Jackson, in 1949, agreed to allow Bisher to help him present his side of the “Black Sox Scandal,” something that had never been done before. Bisher shadowed the Petty racing family at their compound in Level Cross, North Carolina, and discovered the secret behind their success: family. He broke a story about brutality in college football, which led to a nation-wide scandal involving a shady conversation between Bryant and Georgia athletic director Wallace Butts about Georgia’s game plan; read Bisher’s explanation of this case of mistaken identity. In Face to Face, Bisher provides insight into the private lives of sporting men from all generations, sports, shapes, sizes and dispositions-golfer Arnold Palmer, Marlins manager Jack McKeon, boxer Muhammad Ali, UCLA coach John Wooden, media mogul Ted Turner, and more-open their hearts and their homes to legendary journalist Furman Bisher and to you.

About the Author

Born in 1918 in Denton, North Carolina, Furman Bisher is a legend in sports writing. He began his journalism career as the editor of the Lumberton (N.C.) Voice in 1938 and has been with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for over 50 years. His writing has been selected for numerous anthologies, including Best Sports Stories of the Year 23 times. He received the Georgia AP Sports Writing Award 18 times, was named Georgia Sportswriter of the Year 19 times and won the PGA Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award in 1996. He was inducted into the National Sportscaster and Sportswriters Hall of Fame (1989), the International Golf Writers Hall of Fame (1989), the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (1990), and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (1995).

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Responses

Furman,

Indeed a pleasure to meet you at KD’s in Waycross last Wednesday. My dad, an avid writer himself, told me you called him last week looking for me. I am glad you too were able to talk. He was unable to meet with us last week due to the Chemotherapy treatment he had that morning. He is a great human being. You can find him doing what you do, writing on his website http://www.wareopednews.com click on the Back Talk link to read columns he writes.

Do you mind sending me the link where I can read your story on Ed Dudley? I have been looking daily on the AJC but nothing.

You probably don’t remember me but I contacted you several years back (just as I was about to leave Atlanta) about you signing your Augusta book for me. You kindly agreed and asked if I might have an extra copy that you could have, which I did (and still do). Unfortunately I moved before we could get together but wondered if you would still be interested in completing our transaction? If so please send me your new mailing address and I will forward the books to you.

Furman:
I enjoyed my (too) few conversations with you when I was covering the Braves for the late, nearly great News-Free Press. I now wish I had the courage to take some of your time to hear some of your stories about the Crackers, Earl Mann, Joe Engel and the days gone by. I was priviledged to see Ponce de Leon Park once before it was erased from the landscape and had 14 glorious years covering the Lookouts in Engel Stadium (which is still in use, by the way).
Best wishes in the next phase of your writing career. May it be long and fulfilling.
But could you write a book about the end of the Crackers and the arrival of the Braves?
David Jenkins, Chattanooga